Healthcare Grants

Health care is a top expenditure of the federal government. Included in this spending are grants for health care. Multiple federal agencies give health related grants, with most of them within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This large federal department includes several other federal agencies that give health care grants including the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health.

In addition to the federal government, private foundations and corporations give to health care research and delivery. Some foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have devoted substantial money to improving global health. Private corporations, including pharmaceutical companies, have given billion in grants to health and medical initiatives benefiting those who have less access to health care and medications.

Grants for health care include biomedical research, provision of health services, and public health initiatives. There are many different categories of health care grants, which are administered by various federal agencies, foundations, and corporations. Here is a brief taxonomy of health care grants:

Disease specific grants: Some grants are focused on a specific disease or area of medicine. Grants for cancer research and treatment is among the largest areas for grant funding. However, even the rarest diseases often have grant funding attached to them. Medical research grants often come from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Grants for health care delivery: The federal government gives health care grants to expand health access in the United States. The Health Resources Services Administration provides grants to build community health centers and other health care services. While grants launch these new health providers, usually these health centers become self-sustaining through insurance and Medicaid billing.

With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, there will be many changes in the health care system. People who were once uninsured and received medical care through grant funded programs will have insurance. Therefore, some grant opportunities will shift into a different area of health care delivery.

Grants for health care technology: There are grants available for hospitals and medical centers to purchase state of the art equipment for research and medical care. In addition, there are health care grants for information technology. Medical care and research is delivered with complex regimens and procedures that create large amounts of data that must be stored and retrieved with ease. Therefore, there are grant opportunities through the federal government to improve health care quality through better information management.

Grants for medical training: Grants to support medical and nursing students exist in the form of scholarships. New doctors are eligible to have their medical employment funded through fellowships. The NIH also has grants for medical research scientists at different stages in their careers.